Showing posts with label Todd Rhodes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Todd Rhodes. Show all posts

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Todd Rhodes - Blues for the Red Boy: Early Sensation Recordings

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:12
Size: 181.9 MB
Styles: R&B, Jump blues
Year: 2002
Art: Full

[3:12] 1. Bell Boy Boogie
[2:58] 2. Flying Disc
[3:08] 3. Dance of the Red Skins
[3:01] 4. Blue Sensation
[2:54] 5. Jumpin' With the Mountain King
[2:50] 6. Annie Laurie
[3:00] 7. Bop Bop Sizzle
[3:02] 8. Oh Baby
[2:09] 9. I Want to Be Happy
[2:25] 10. Make It Good
[2:57] 11. I Love You Truly
[2:40] 12. Blues for the Red Boy AKA OK Blues
[2:06] 13. Fool for You
[3:02] 14. Toddlin' Boogie
[2:52] 15. Sweetheart, Please Come Back to Me
[2:35] 16. Prelude in C Sharp Minor
[2:33] 17. Anitra's Jump
[3:02] 18. I'm Just a Fool in Love
[2:38] 19. It Ain't Right
[2:47] 20. Sportree's Jump
[2:12] 21. She Don't Love Me Anymore
[2:37] 22. Todd's Idea
[2:38] 23. It Couldn't Be True
[2:15] 24. Oo-Wee Walkie Talkie
[2:39] 25. Comin' Home
[2:51] 26. That Ain't Right
[2:18] 27. That's the Guy for Me
[5:38] 28. Rhapsody in Blue, Pts. 1 and 2

As well as being a bandleader and musician of no small repute, Todd Rhodes was quite the talent spotter. Many of the musicians who later found fame as part of Motown's celebrated Funk Brothers got their start in the Rhodes band. Among them was the great drummer Benny Benjamin, who powered just about every important Motown recording from the 60s and whose earliest recorded work can be heard here.

At the time of these sessions, Rhodes' favoured arranger was a young Johnny Allen who, in the 60s and 70s (and to this day, actually!) would also find gainful employment sorting out the string sections at Motown, and also on just about every record produced by Don Davis for Golden World and, subsequently, Stax/Volt. Following the premature passing of Kitty Stevenson - whose entire catalogue of work is heard here, save for a few unissued and seemingly lost masters - Rhodes took on another young Detroit-based gal who was building a name for herself at the Flame Bar but who had not yet recorded. Her name? La Vern Baker-.-although she's not featured here ...

Not only does the CD boast phenomenal sound quality throughout, it also features many alternate takes that are, in our opinion, considerably better than those originally released. And on top of all this, it contains a generous helping of completely unissued masters, which have been consigned to audio limbo hitherto for over half a century. To be able to give this material the kind of presentation it has truly always deserved is a matter of some pride for Ace, and it must be said that our buddies at Sound Mastering have surpassed even their usual immaculate standards with this one - such is the power of sound here that it couldn't really sound that much better if you were actually standing in the Detroit studios at the moment of recording!

Regrettably, many of the Rhodes band's Sensation and King masters have lately been subject to slipshod, non-endorsed, Out-Of-Copyright anthologising by "les usual suspects", utilising their own by-now-standard (make that substandard!) remastering techniques. Blues For The Red Boy is the first and only 100% legitimate CD reissue of these sides - and as Ace owns the copyrights and the actual Sensation acetates and/or mastertapes, you can believe that legitimacy is not an issue here! We will also be paying a royalty to Rhodes' 94-year old widow Annie Mae - something else that 'les freres OOC' will doubtless not be doing... ~Tony Rounce

thank you kempen.
Blues for the Red Boy: Early Sensation Recordings
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